Frangible portion of one-time-use camera must be broken to open camera, which leaves hold to discourage unauthorized recycling

ABSTRACT

A one-time-use camera comprising a main body part, and a cover part connected to the main body part which at least partially covers the main body part, is characterized in that a continuous line of weakness circumscribes a predetermined portion of the main body part or cover part to permit the predetermined portion to be broken away from the main body part or cover part along the continuous line of weakness and leave a hole in the main body part or cover part in the place of the predetermined portion, and the cover part is connected to the main body part at the predetermined portion to cause the predetermined portion to be broken away from the main body part or cover part when the main body part and the cover part are forcibly pulled apart.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Reference is made to commonly assigned copending applications Ser. No.08/862,205, entitled ONE-TIME-USE CAMERA CAN ONLY BE USED WITH MODIFIEDFILM CARTRIDGE, TO PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED REUSE WITH STANDARD FILMCARTRIDGE and filed May 22, 1997 in the names of Jude A. SanGregory,Edgar G. Earnhart and Joseph C. Weiser, and Ser. No. 08/862,119,entitled METHOD OF REMANUFACTURING ONE-TIME-USE CAMERA and filed May 22,1997 in the name of Bernd Wagner.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and inparticular to one-time-use cameras. More specifically, the inventionrelates to a one-time-use camera having a frangible portion that must bebroken to open the camera, which leaves a hole to discourageunauthorized recycling of the camera.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Film and cameras that are all in one, commonly referred to as single-useor one-time-use cameras, have become well known. Typically, theone-time-use camera is a simple point-and-shoot type comprising aplastic main body part which supports a conventional 35 mm filmcartridge in a cartridge receiving chamber, a film take-up spool in afilm supply chamber, a fixed-focus taking lens, a film meteringmechanism with a rotatably supported metering sprocket that engages thefilmstrip, a manually rotatable thumbwheel rotatably engaged with a filmspool inside the film cartridge, a single-blade shutter, a manuallydepressible shutter release button, a rotatable frame counter forindicating the number of exposures remaining for picture-taking, adirect see-through viewfinder, and in some models an electronic flash. Apair of plastic front and rear cover parts house the main body partbetween them to complete the camera unit. The rear cover part connectsto the main body part and/or to the front cover part to make the mainbody part light-tight. A decorative cardboard outer box or label atleast partially covers the camera unit and has respective openings forthe taking lens, etc.

After each time a picture is taken with the one-time-use camera, thephotographer manually rotates the thumbwheel in a film winding directionto similarly rotate the film spool inside the film cartridge. This windsan exposed section of the filmstrip into the film cartridge. Therewinding movement of the filmstrip the equivalent of slightly more thanone frame width rotates the metering sprocket in engagement with thefilmstrip to decrement the frame counter to its next lower-numberedsetting, and to pivot a metering lever into engagement with thethumbwheel to prevent further manual rotation of the thumbwheel.Manually depressing the shutter release button to take another picturepivots the metering lever out of engagement with the thumbwheel topermit renewed rotation of the thumbwheel. When the maximum number ofexposures available on the filmstrip are exposed, and the filmstrip iscompletely wound off the take-up spool and wound into the filmcartridge, the one-time-use camera is given to a photofinisher who tearsthe outer box off the camera unit, separates the rear cover part fromthe main body part, and removes the film cartridge with the exposedfilmstrip from the cartridge receiving chamber. Then, he removes theexposed filmstrip from the film cartridge to develop the negatives andmake prints for the customer, and he forwards the used camera parts tothe manufacturer for recycling, i.e. remanufacture.

Typically, during original manufacture or recycling (remanufacture) ofthe one-time-use camera, a film leader protruding from a fresh cartridgeis attached to the film take-up spool, the fresh cartridge and the filmtake-up spool are loaded into the cartridge receiving and film supplychambers, and an intermediate leader section which bridges the filmtake-up spool and the fresh cartridge is engaged with the meteringsprocket. The front and rear cover parts are connected to the main bodypart and/or to the front cover part to complete the camera unit. Then,an engageable end of the take-up spool which protrudes from the filmroll chamber is rotated to factory prewind substantially the entirelength of the unexposed filmstrip from the fresh cartridge onto the filmtake-up spool and to rotate the metering sprocket to increment the framecounter to its total-available frame number setting. Lastly, the outerbox or label is placed on the camera unit.

Prior Art Problem

There is a need recognized in the industry to prevent unauthorizedrecycling (remanufacturing) of one-time-use cameras in order to maintaincamera quality. Unauthorized recycled cameras may be of lesser qualitythan authorized recycled cameras because the reused parts may be worn ordamaged. This problem is further described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,033issued Sep. 19, 1995 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,366 issued Aug. 10, 1993.

One example of a possible solution to the problem is disclosed in priorart U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,410 issued Sep. 20, 1994. This patent suggestsas a way to prevent unauthorized recycling that an anti-backup pawl forthe thumbwheel be broken when the rear cover part is separated from themain body part to obtain the film cartridge from the cartridge receivingchamber. The rear cover part has a projecting hook that extends througha hole in the anti-backup pawl to engage the pawl. The anti-backup pawlis connected to the main body part at a location which includes aweakened notch section. Thus, separating the rear cover part from themain body part breaks the anti-backup pawl away from the main body partat the weakened notch section.

Another example of a possible solution to the problem is for the rearcover part to have an integral door portion that is to be opened toremove the film cartridge from the cartridge receiving chamber and tohave a grooved line of weakness between the door portion and a remainingportion of the rear cover part. The grooved line of weakness forms aliving hinge between the door portion and the remaining portion of therear cover part which tends to fracture when the door portion is opened.The fracture allows the door portion to be readily separated from theremaining portion of the rear cover part, to leave a large opening tothe main body part which allows ambient light to enter the cartridgereceiving chamber. The fracture, often however, may not be sufficient toreadily separate the door portion from the remaining portion of the rearcover part. Consequently, the rear cover part might be reused, providedan opaque tape is adhered to the fractured line of weakness to preventany possible light leak.

The Cross-referenced Applications

Cross-referenced application Ser. No. 08/862,205 discloses a furtherexample of a possible solution to the problem. In this instance, thefilm cartridge is a modified cartridge as compared to a standardcartridge, because it has a recess that is not on the standardcartridge. The main body part has a blocking protuberance that projectsinto the cartridge receiving chamber to fit in the recess when themodified cartridge is placed in the chamber, but which will abut thestandard cartridge to prevent it from being placed in the chamber whenone attempts to substitute the standard cartridge for the modifiedcartridge. A hollowed-out space is provided in the blocking protuberancethat will allow ambient light to leak into the cartridge receivingchamber should one cut the protuberance off the main body part at thehollowed-out space in order to permit the standard cartridge to beplaced in the chamber.

Cross-referenced application Ser. No. 08/862,119 discloses a method ofremanufacturing the one-time-use camera disclosed in this application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, a one-time-use camera comprising a main bodypart, and a cover part connected to the main body part which at leastpartially covers the main body part, is characterized in that:

a continuous line of weakness circumscribes a predetermined portion ofthe main body part or cover part to permit the predetermined portion tobe broken away from the main body part or cover part along thecontinuous line of weakness and leave a hole in the main body part orcover part in the place of the predetermined portion; and

the cover part is connected to the main body part at the predeterminedportion to cause the predetermined portion to be broken away from themain body part or cover part when the main body part and the cover partare forcibly pulled apart.

More particularly, the main body part and the cover part define achamber between them which is light-tight, and the predetermined portionis a portion of the cover part that at least partially defines thechamber to allow ambient light to enter the light-tight chamber throughthe hole when the predetermined portion is broken away from the coverpart along the continuous line of weakness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded front perspective view of a main body part and arear cover part of a one-time-use camera pursuant to a preferredembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the main body part;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a hook projecting from the rear cover partthrough an opening in the main body part to connect the rear cover partand the main body part together;

FIG. 4 is an exploded front perspective view of the main body part and afront cover part;

FIG. 5 is a rear perspective view of the front cover part;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a hook projecting from the front coverpart through an opening in a lug on the main body part;

FIG. 7 is an exploded front perspective view similar to FIG. 4, but ofan alternate embodiment of a lens bezel on the front cover part;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of hooks projecting from the lens bezelthrough openings in respective lugs on the main body part;

FIG. 9 is an exploded front perspective view similar to FIG. 4, but ofan alternate embodiment of a manually depressible flash button on thefront cover part;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a hook projecting from the flash buttonthrough an opening in a flash circuit board affixed to the main bodypart; and

FIG. 11 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 10, but of anotherembodiment of the flash button.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is disclosed as being embodied preferably in aone-time-use camera. Because the features of a one-time-use camera aregenerally known, the description which follows is directed in particularonly to those elements forming part of or cooperating directly with thedisclosed embodiment. It is to be understood, however, that otherelements may take various forms known to a person of ordinary skill inthe art.

Preferred Embodiment

Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 5 show a one-time-usecamera 10 comprising a main body part 12 and a pair of front and rearcover parts 14 and 16 which house the main body part between them. Themain body part 12 and the rear cover part 16 define acartridge-receiving chamber 18, a film exposure chamber 20 and anunexposed film roll chamber 22 which are each enclosed between the mainbody part and the rear cover part.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the rear cover part 16 has threeinside-projecting, identical, flexible hooks 24 which protrude tightlythrough respective rectangular openings 26 in the main body part 12 toconnect the rear cover part and the main body part together tolight-tightly seal the cartridge-receiving chamber 18, the film exposurechamber 20 and then unexposed film roll chamber 22.

As shown in FIGS. 4-6, the front cover part 14 has threeinside-projecting, identical, flexible hooks 28 which protrude tightlythrough respective rectangular openings 30 in three integral front lugs32 of the main body part 12 to connect the front cover part and the mainbody part together with the hooks and the lugs concealed between thefront cover part and the main body part to prevent them from beingmanually disengaged.

Three rear lugs (not shown), identical to the three front lugs 32 on themain body part 12, can be provided on the main body part instead of thethree rectangular openings 26 in the main body part, in order for thehooks 24 of the rear cover part 16 to connect the rear cover part to themain body part. This would be done to conceal the three hooks 24 and thethree lugs (not shown) between the rear cover part 16 and the main bodypart 12 to prevent them from being manually disengaged (similar to thethree hooks 28 and the three lugs 32).

Three inside-grooved continuous lines of weakness 34 circumscriberespective circular portions 36 of the rear cover part 16 that includethe three hooks 24. See FIGS. 1 and 3. The three circular portions 36partially cover the film exposure chamber 20 to make that chamberlight-tight. If the rear cover part 16 is forcibly pulled apart from themain body part 12 to begin to disassemble the camera 10, the threecircular portions 36 will be instantly torn away from the rear coverpart along the three lines of weakness 34 because the three hooks 24remain engaged with the main body part at the respective rectangularopenings 26 in the main body part. Thus, three holes will be created inthe rear cover part 16 in place of the three circular portions 36. Thethree holes prevent the rear cover part 16 from being reconnected to themain body part 12 at the respective circular portions 36, and they allowambient light to enter the film exposure chamber 20 should one attemptto reconnect the rear cover part to the main body part using othermeans.

One can, of course, somehow plug or cover the three holes in the rearcover part 16 to remanufacture the rear cover part, but it is clearlypreferable in order to maintain quality to replace the spent part with anew suitable part.

Three inside-grooved continuous lines of weakness 38 circumscriberespective circular portions 40 of the front cover part 14 that includethe three hooks 28. See FIGS. 4-6. If the front cover part 14 isforcibly pulled apart from the main body part 12 to continue todisassemble the camera 10, the three circular portions 40 will beinstantly torn away from the front cover part along the three lines ofweakness 38 because the three hooks 28 remain engaged with the main bodypart at the respective rectangular openings 30 in the three lugs 32 ofthe main body part. Thus, three holes will be created in the front coverpart 14 in place of the respective circular portions 40, which preventthe front cover part from being reconnected to the main body part 12 atthe three circular portions.

Alternate Embodiment #1

FIGS. 7 and 8 show a first alternate embodiment in which instead of thefront cover part 14 having the three hooks 28 and the main body part 12having the three lugs 32 with the rectangular openings 30, to connectthe front cover part and the main body part together, the front coverpart includes an outside-raised oval-shaped lens bezel 42 having threeinside-projecting, identical, flexible hooks 44 which surround acentered lens opening 46 in the lens bezel, and the main body part hasrespective rectangular openings 48 in three integral front lugs 50 ofthe main body part 12. The three hooks 44 protrude through therespective openings 48 in the three lugs 50 to connect the front coverpart 14 and the main body part 12 together with the hooks and the lugsconcealed between the front cover part and the main body part to preventthem from being manually disengaged.

A single outside-grooved continuous line of weakness 52 circumscribesthe lens bezel 42. See FIGS. 7 and 8. If the front cover part 14 isforcibly pulled apart from the main body part 12 to continue todisassemble the camera 10, the lens bezel 42 will be instantly torn awayfrom the front cover part along the line of weakness 52 because thethree hooks 44 remain engaged with the main body part at the respectiverectangular openings 48 in the three lugs 50 of the main body part.Thus, a single hole will be created in the front cover part 14 in placeof the lens bezel 42, which prevents the front cover part from beingreconnected to the main body part 12 at the lens bezel.

Alternate Embodiment #2

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a second alternate embodiment in which the frontcover part 14 has an integral cantilevered flash button 54 which issurrounded on three sides by a slot 56 through the front cover part. Atthe remaining side of the flash button 54, there is provided a singleinside-grooved straight line of weakness 58 in the front cover part 12.The slot 56 and the line of weakness 58 together circumscribe the flashbutton 54 end-to-end. See FIG. 9.

When the flash button 54 is manually depressed, a protuberance 60 on itsunderside depresses a resilient dome switch 62 on a flash circuit board64 affixed to the main body part 12 opposite the unexposed film rollchamber 22. This prepares the flash circuit board 64 in a known way forflash picture-taking.

The flash button 54 has a single inside-projecting flexible hook 66 thatprotrudes movably (loosely) through a circular opening 68 in the flashcircuit board 64 to couple the flash button and the flash circuit to inturn couple the front cover part 14 and the main body part 12. The hook66 and the circular opening 68 are concealed between the main body part12 and the front cover part 14 to prevent the hook and the flash circuitboard 64 from being manually uncoupled. A clearance space 70 is locatedbetween the hook 66 and the main body part 12 to provide room for thehook when the flash button 54 is manually depressed. See FIG. 10.

If the front cover part 14 is forcibly pulled apart from the main bodypart 12 to continue to disassemble the camera 10, the flash button 54will be instantly torn away from the front cover part along the line ofweakness 58 because the hook 66 remains engaged with the flash circuitboard 64 at the circular opening 68 in the flash circuit board. Thus, asingle hole will be created in the front cover part 14 in place of theflash button 54 and the flash button will be permanently disabled.

Alternate Embodiment #3

FIG. 11 shows a third alternate embodiment in which the front cover part14 has an integral resilient dome-like flash button 72 which iscircumscribed by a single inside-grooved continuous line of weakness 74in the front cover part 12.

When the flash button 72 is manually depressed, a protuberance 76 on itsunderside depresses a resilient dome switch 78 on a flash circuit board80 affixed to the main body part 12 opposite the unexposed film rollchamber 22. This prepares the flash circuit board 80 in a known way forflash picture-taking.

The flash button 72 has two inside-projecting, identical, flexible hooks82 that protrude movably (loosely) through respective circular openings84 in the flash circuit board 80 to couple the flash button and theflash circuit to in turn couple the front cover part 14 and the mainbody part 12. The two hooks 82 and the two circular openings 84 areconcealed between the main body part 12 and the front cover part 14 toprevent the hooks and the flash circuit board 80 from being manuallyuncoupled. Two clearance spaces 86 are located between the hooks 82 andthe main body part 12 to provide room for the hooks when the flashbutton 72 is manually depressed. See FIG. 10.

If the front cover part 14 is forcibly pulled apart from the main bodypart 12 to continue to disassemble the camera 10, the flash button 72will be instantly torn away from the front cover part along the line ofweakness 74 because the two hooks 82 remain engaged with the flashcircuit board 80 at the two circular openings 84 in the flash circuitboard. Thus, a single hole will be created in the front cover part 14 inplace of the flash button 72 and the flash button will be permanentlydisabled.

The invention has been described with reference to a preferredembodiment. However, it will be appreciated that variations andmodifications can be effected by a person of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope of the invention.

PARTS LIST

10. one-time-use camera

12. main body part

14. front cover part

16. rear cover part

18. cartridge receiving chamber

20. film exposure chamber

22. unexposed film roll chamber

24. three hooks

26. three rectangular openings

28. three hooks

30. three rectangular openings

32. three lugs

34. three inside-grooved continuous lines of weakness

36. three circular portions

38. three inside-grooved continuous lines of weakness

40. three circular portions

42. lens bezel

44. three hooks

46. lens opening

48. three rectangular openings

50. three lugs

52. outside-grooved continuous line of weakness

54. cantilevered flash button

56. slot

58. inside-grooved straight line of weakness

60. protuberance

62. dome switch

64. flash circuit board

66. hook

68. circular opening

70. clearance space

72. dome-like flash button

74. inside-grooved continuous line of weakness

76. protuberance

78. dome switch

80. flash circuit board

82. two hooks

84. two circular openings

86. two clearance spaces

What is claimed is:
 1. A one-time-use camera comprising a main bodypart, and a cover part connected to said main body part which at leastpartially covers the main body part, is characterized in that:acontinuous line of weakness circumscribes a predetermined portion ofsaid main body part or cover part to permit said predetermined portionto be broken away from the main body part or cover part along saidcontinuous line of weakness and leave a hole in the main body part orcover part in the place of the predetermined portion; and said coverpart is connected to said main body part at said predetermined portionto cause the predetermined portion to be broken away from the main bodypart or cover part when the main body part and the cover part areforcibly pulled apart.
 2. A one-time-use camera as recited in claim 1,wherein said predetermined portion includes a functional element that iscapable of performing a particular function and is broken away from saidmain body part or cover part with the predetermined portion along saidcontinuous line of weakness in order to be disabled to preventperformance of the particular function.
 3. A one-time-use camera asrecited in claim 1, wherein said predetermined portion is a portion ofsaid cover part and includes a manually operable member that is manuallyoperated to perform the particular function and is broken away from thecover part with the predetermined portion along said continuous line ofweakness.
 4. A one-time-use camera as recited in claim 3, wherein saidmanually operable member is a manually depressible button.
 5. Aone-time-use camera as recited in claim 3, wherein said predeterminedportion and said main body part include respective engagement membersfor connecting the main body part and said cover part and which areconcealed between the main body part and the predetermined portion toprevent the main body part and the cover part from being disconnectedand which cause the predetermined portion to be broken away from thecover part along said continuous line of weakness when the main bodypart and the cover part are forcibly pulled apart.
 6. A one-time-usecamera as recited in claim 1, wherein said predetermined portion is aportion of said cover part and has a lens opening.
 7. A one-time-usecamera as recited in claim 1, wherein said main body part and said coverpart define a chamber between them which is light-tight, and saidpredetermined portion is a portion of said cover part that at leastpartially defines said chamber to allow ambient light to enter thelight-tight chamber through said hole when the predetermined portion isbroken away from the cover part along said continuous line of weakness.8. A one-time-use camera as recited in claim 1, wherein said main bodypart and said cover part include a pair of mutually engaged memberswhich connect the main body part and the cover part and are concealedbetween the main body part and the cover part to prevent said pair ofengaged members from being disengaged, and only one of said pair ofengaged members is connected to said predetermined portion to cause thepredetermined portion to be broken away from said main body part orcover part along said continuous line of weakness when the main bodypart and the cover part are forcibly pulled apart.
 9. A one-time-usecamera comprising a main body part, and a cover part connected to saidmain body part which at least partially covers the main body part, ischaracterized in that:an end-to-end slot and line of weakness in saidcover part which together circumscribe a predetermined portion of thecover part to permit said predetermined portion to be broken away fromthe cover part along said line of weakness to leave a hole in the coverpart in the place of the predetermined portion; and said cover part isconnected to said main body part at said predetermined portion to causethe predetermined portion to be broken away from the cover part when themain body part and the cover part are forcibly pulled apart.
 10. Aone-time-use camera as recited in claim 9, wherein said predeterminedportion includes a manually operable member that is broken away fromsaid cover part with the predetermined portion along said line ofweakness.
 11. A one-time-use camera as recited in claim 10, wherein aflash circuit board is affixed to said main body part, said manuallyoperable member is a manually depressible flash button, and saidpredetermined portion and said flash circuit board include respectivemutually engaging members which connect said cover part and said flashcircuit board to in turn connect the cover part and said main body partand are concealed between the main body part and the predeterminedportion to prevent said mutually engaging members from being disengagedand which cause the predetermined portion to be broken away from thecover part along said continuous line of weakness when the main bodypart and the cover part are forcibly pulled apart.
 12. A one-time-usecamera comprising a main body part having a chamber, and a cover partconnected to said main body part which covers said chamber to make thechamber light-tight and has a weakened portion that can be separatedfrom a remaining portion of the cover part to leave an opening to thechamber in place of the separated portion, is characterized in that:saidweakened portion of the cover part is connected to said main body partto cause the weakened portion to be separated from said remainingportion of the cover part when the main body part and said cover partare forcibly pulled apart.
 13. A one-time-use camera as recited in claim12, wherein said main body part and said weakened portion of the coverpart include a pair of mutually engaged members which connect the mainbody part and the cover part and are concealed between the main bodypart and the weakened portion to prevent said pair of engaged membersfrom being disengaged and which cause the weakened portion to beseparated from said remaining portion of the cover part when the mainbody part and the cover part are forcibly pulled apart.
 14. A cover partintended to at least partially cover a main body part of a one-time-usecamera, is characterized in that:a continuous line of weaknesscircumscribes a predetermined portion of said cover part to permit saidpredetermined portion to be broken away from the cover part along saidcontinuous line of weakness and leave a hole in the cover part in theplace of the predetermined portion; and an engagement member of saidcover part is configured to be connected to the main body part at saidpredetermined portion to cause the predetermined portion to be brokenaway from the main body part when the main body part and the cover partare forcibly pulled apart.
 15. A cover part adapted to be connected to amain body part of a one-time-use camera to cover a chamber in the mainbody part to make the chamber light-tight and having a weakened portionthat can be separated from a remaining portion of said cover part toleave an opening to the chamber in place of the separated portion, ischaracterized in that:said weakened portion of the cover part has anengagement member configured to be connected to the main body part tocause the weakened portion to be separated from said remaining portionof the cover part when the main body part and said cover part areforcibly pulled apart.